Minneapolis Memorial Set for Man who Died of Ebola

A memorial service will be held next month in Minneapolis for a Liberian government official who died of Ebola.

Patrick Sawyer died last month from the disease after traveling from Liberia to Nigeria.

Sawyer was a former Minnesota resident and naturalized American whose wife and children still live in suburban Minneapolis.

His wife Decontee Sawyer says a memorial service will be held Sept. 27 at the Brookdale Christian Center. Afterward, she says they will hold a program to bring awareness to the disease and raise money for their fight against it.

She says representatives from Samaritan's Purse missionary group and Global Health Ministries will also be there.

Sawyer's sister also died of Ebola in Liberia. Ebola is highly contagious and kills more than 70 percent of people infected.

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In this undated family photo, Patrick Sawyer is shown with his daughter Ava at their home in Coon Rapids. Sawyer died from Ebola after traveling from his native Liberia to Nigeria.